Eugene Schiller, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s deputy executive director of management services, has been selected to serve on the Department of the Interior’s National Geospatial Advisory Committee for a two-year term effective immediately. Schiller was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, to represent regional government.
Schiller is among 28 individuals chosen by panelists from various federal agencies. More than 110 nominees representing a broad range of public and private organizations from across the country were considered. The committee will provide advice and perspectives on geospatial information and technology as it relates to topics like wildlife conservation, weather prediction and national security. The committee is expected to meet three or four times a year.
The main goal of the committee is to provide advice on the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, which promotes sharing of geospatial data through all levels of the government, the private and nonprofit sectors and the academic community.
Geospatial information refers to information integrated from multiple forms of data about precise locations on the earth’s surface. Sources of data include photographic, infrared and multi-spectral images, geographic, hydrographic, and geomagnetic data. It also includes environmental, political and cultural information that use common interoperable standards. Geospatial information may be used for printed or digitalized maps, charts and publications or in digital simulations and modeling databases.